What defines a low print run for a particular issue?

[romanheart]

Every now and then I see that Aquaman or Nightwing 4 for the New 52 is a low print run and therefore very hard to find.

 

How do you know something supposedly common was not printed as much and where do you get these stats?

[Iceman399]

http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales.html

[romanheart]

and what would be the threshold of a low print run?

[Dr. Balls]

7 copies is a low print run.

[Dr. Balls]

Just kidding.

 

Wouldn't the threshold be relative to the book's popularity? The book has to have something to relate to in terms of print run in order to determine a low number. I don't think there's an arbitrary number that is considered "low" is there? Low is relative to who's publishing.

 

If the book regularly averages 40,000+ copies, but one issue (perhaps the last issue, typically) only has 8,000 - I would consider that a "low" print run for the book.

[mschmidt]

Every now and then I see that Aquaman or Nightwing 4 for the New 52 is a low print run and therefore very hard to find.

 

How do you know something supposedly common was not printed as much and where do you get these stats?

 

eBay sellers pull them out of their *spoon* when they're trying to flog their wares - most of the time they're lying through their teeth when they claim that a recent Marvel/DC book has a "low print run" :thumbsup:

[valiantman]

Every now and then I see that Aquaman or Nightwing 4 for the New 52 is a low print run and therefore very hard to find.

 

How do you know something supposedly common was not printed as much and where do you get these stats?

 

eBay sellers pull them out of their *spoon* when they're trying to flog their wares - most of the time they're lying through their teeth when they claim that a recent Marvel/DC book has a "low print run" :thumbsup:

 

Excellent point.

 

Another point: If a book is so rare, so awesome that it is the best thing you should buy... why are they selling it?

[the blob]

yeah, low print run depends on the item. the regular print run of 40K, but this one had 8K, is a good example. in addition, obscure becomes "low print run" once anyone has any interest in it. there are a TON of indie comics from the 80s - 2000s with tiny 250 - 2,000 copy print runs. but people only care about the fact that there is a low print run when the book has wings and demand and you have a TNMT 1 or a Strangers in Paradise 1 or Dead@17 or Cursed Pirate Girl 1 or the artist-writer/character has success elsewhere whatever.

 

also, you see the last issue of many cancelled series advertised as such. fact is, i doubt turok 47 is really much more rare than 46 (or conan 275 vs. 274, though conan 275 has a cooler cover), but it gets a huge premium. both had small print runs for the era and were a fraction of where the title was 3 years earlier. neither is really "rare" because we're still talking thousands and thousands of copies (and conan 275 was probably well over 50,000 copies, which was tiny for 1993 or whatever, but plenty for today)

 

it used to be whenever there was a distribution problem they tried this nonsense hype. Conan 2 isn't rare. Neither is Silver Surfer 4 or any number of these SA or BA books that made it into OPG. even if they were a little short-printed, it's not like being 50K copies short on a 500K print-run is going to really have supply ramifications nowadays.

[romanheart]

Your point (Dr. B) is valid.

 

Issue 3 4 5 6

Aquaman 62k 58k 65k 63k

Nightwing 57k 51k 50k 47k

 

Aquaman did have a dip in that month. Enough to make it HTF?

 

Nightwing had a dip in overall sales for the next few months. More like a market trend for the title.

 

[mschmidt]

Your point (Dr. B) is valid.

 

Issue 3 4 5 6

Aquaman 62k 58k 65k 63k

Nightwing 57k 51k 50k 47k

 

Aquaman did have a dip in that month. Enough to make it HTF?

 

Nightwing had a dip in overall sales for the next few months. More like a market trend for the title.

 

 

Not in the slightest.

 

 

[TSwift25]

"Low" is relative.

 

Anything below 10K is "low" but then you can also have books like Uncanny X-Force 4 where 50K isn't enough to meet demand.

[jaeldubyoo]

Low print doesn't mean much if there's no demand for the book. It only means that you have a low print book that nobody wants.